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MAAG is excited about partnering with Juniper Productions for PLAYS WITH FRIENDS livestream events on Sunday, June 7th at 2pm and Sunday, June 14th at 2pm. The season finale is on Wednesday, June 24th at 5pm.

Juniper Productions, in association with Manayunk Theatre Company, presents a new livestream theatrical experience inspired by MadLibs: improv and online competitive theatrical games. For more information about Juniper Productions you can visit their website at: https://juniper.agency/.

As a MAAG Member you are able to access FREE tickets by using the discount code JUNIPER5 at checkout.

Here’s the low down…three brave guest performers are given a monologue or short speech from a well known play or musical a couple of days before the show. They put together their own home-made props and costumes in preparation for their performance.

Your job as the audience is to infuse mirth into the show (and applaud the performances). Guided by the MC, you’ll suggest new word substitutions in the monologues. Each guest is given a few minutes to rehearse privately, and then off we go… be prepared for much fun and creativity as the new monologues are performed.

Voting takes place after the event – you get to name your pick in three categories:

***Best props and costumes*** ***Best characterization*** *** Best general performance***

The best general performers advance to the Grand Finale on June 24th.

Registration is $5 (no additional fees) for the ticket, and we have a 2-for-1 ticket special for you to share with friends and family. We will email each person a link to this livestream event prior to the show.

We at Mt Airy Art Garage are reaching out to our members and friends to let you know how much you mean and have meant to us over the years. During this time of COVID-19 we are all experiencing a new reality that puts us all in unprecedented times.

With jobs being lost and schools closed, our community is suffering in many ways. Our Community of Pride Mural & Literacy Project (COP) program at Emlen school is being reworked in hopes that the Board of Education can create online teaching for its students. We plan on continuing to pay our teachers as we seek to re-work our program in hopes of continuing to offer arts education to our children.

As a hub to the arts and culture community, MAAG is working on providing online arts outlets to keep the Arts world alive and well in NW Philadelphia. In order to do this we must ask our members and friends to consider keeping your membership current and friends donating where they can by using our PayPal account (via website) or mailing in contributions where possible.

We hope you and your families are keeping safe and healthy and look forward to seeing everyone on the other side of this pandemic reality. Please stay in touch through our website, email, and Facebook platforms and know that we are all in this together.

http://mtairyartgarage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/maag-needs-you.jpg540960Larry Westhttp://mtairyartgarage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/maag-in-action_main-1024x274.pngLarry West2020-04-17 15:40:022020-05-19 10:21:06MAAG in These Trying Times

The Mt. Airy Art Garage is a nonprofit member arts organization celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. We provide communal space for creativity, collaboration, and self-actualization, while utilizing creative expression as an instrument for social change. MAAG serves as an incubator for professional and emerging artists who work in creative partnerships with local adults and youth to spread the spirit of art, community, and sustainable living throughout Northwest Philadelphia. We foster civic engagement and community revitalization through the arts, while serving as a center for children and adults to learn, find safe space, and rejoice in the unique creativity that springs from us all.

We have established partnerships throughout the city that include City Hall, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Lovett Library, The Philadelphia Theatre Company located at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, The Fabric Workshop Museum, La Salle University Museum, and other local organizations in our community.

Nonprofits like ours have been vulnerable to economic downturns. Trends for arts and culture nonprofits take the hardest hits whenever there is a recession. In our current climate, now more than ever, creativity is vital to underserved populations. Fortunately, over the last few years MAAG has survived and, looking towards the future, will continue to thrive! MAAG has been going through a time of major transition. After losing our home on Mt. Airy Avenue in 2016, we continued to grow in our small gallery space at 6622 Germantown Avenue.

For the past three years, another wonderful alliance has been the creation of the Community of Pride Mural and Literacy Project at the Eleanor C. Emlen Elementary School. This program provides a rich curriculum with opportunities for 4th and 5th grade students learning to draw and paint full-sized murals which have become permanent fixtures at the school.

These classes aim to provide a safe space to nurture creativity, self-esteem, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment in seeing their original work on the walls.

Most recently, MAAG created a free After School Community Arts Project at the Mt. Airy Playground for children ages 10 to 14. The culminating mural design will be mounted on the three window panels outside of Jyoti’s Indian Bistro at Germantown Avenue and Nippon Street by the end of the school year.

We continue to hold our annual Holiday Arts Market, and for the second year in a row, we will be working with the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs to host the Philly Family Pride Picnic and Arts Festival. This event will be held once again at Lovett Library Park located at 6945 Germantown Avenue on Saturday, June 22 from 11 am–5 pm with a rain date of Sunday, June 23rd, 2019. Admission will be free and open to all ages, families, and community members. This event will have family-specific entertainment, fine art and handcrafts, music, food trucks, and resource tables from a variety of organizations and nonprofits that provide services and support to LGBTQ families and youth.

In the coming months we plan on moving into a large space in Mt. Airy which will enable us to expand our programs, offer classes, rent out multiple artist studio spaces, hold events, continue our gift shop, and have a dedicated gallery space.

As we grow in size and offerings we need to expand our working board. In addition, we are seeking a grant writer who understands our mission, is an art-lover, and is supportive of our child-centered arts programs. This a paid position for a dedicated individual committed to helping the organization with funding for current programs, future projects, and for operating expenses.

This is an exciting time join us for the next ten years! Become a member. Donations of money, time, service, talent, and writing skills, are all welcome. Thank you, Northwest Philadelphia, Mt. Airy Neighbors, for all the support you have shown us. MAAG could only have been created in the Mt. Airy community.